The Ginseng Conspiracy (A Kay Driscoll Mystery) (34 page)

“What's going on?” Phil whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

“I'll tell you both later,” I whispered. I reached for Phil's hand.

Which Richard was the fifth person? My heart raced faster. Which of the six had pushed me into the street? I would have recognized any of them if they had gotten near me. I remembered the man in the park, who I thought was an FBI agent already looking after my own welfare. But when I mentioned this to Thom, he said there was no FBI agent yet in Sudbury Falls. At last it hit me. These evil six had someone tracking my every step to find just the right opportunity to do me in. I bet Bill Murphy took it upon himself to hire the goon to do the job. With his position in the police department, he knew enough thugs in town and the right one who could be bribed.

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”

Phil and I, Deirdre, and Elizabeth were the last to come up and place a flower on Margaret's casket. I chose a beautiful, blue delphinium, one of my favorite flowers. I remembered seeing delphiniums in Margaret's garden. On the way back, I glanced over at Professor Laska, wanting to know if he was still there.

We returned to our seats. Another agent, approaching from the side, sat down in the seat Al Stewart had vacated. He spoke to the man in the next seat that I hadn’t recognized. After the prayer ended, I asked Elizabeth, “Do you know who that is?”

“Dr. Stewart.”

“Dr. Richard Stewart?”

“Yes.” So he was the mysterious Richard. Stewart slowly shook his head back and forth as the agent talked to him before being led away.

The Psalm was over, and after the procession to the front ended, the minister led the singing of
Amazing Grace
. People sang out with joy. Tears welled up in my eyes. Justice for Sherman Walters, for Alicia, and for Margaret, had come at last!

Through many dangers, toils and snares

I have already come;

’Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far

And Grace will lead me home.

By the time the last verse ended, the vehicles had exited the cemetery, carrying away the shadowy group. It all seemed to have happened in slow motion.

The minister finished. A silence fell over the graveyard. People started to leave, a few whispering to each other. The minister escorted Margaret's sister to her car. I was drained by the whole experience. So much had happened in these past couple of weeks, the deaths, the investigation, the threats.

“Kay, did you do all of that?” Phil asked me, redirecting my attention. I looked at Phil, about to speak, when Deirdre said, “There are good forces at work.”

“Were you counting?” Elizabeth said, getting up, straightening out her dress. “They only took away five people.” Just as I stood up to tell them who the sixth person was, I saw Thom approaching. I said, “Please excuse me for a minute. I'll be right back.” I started walking towards Thom. Phil followed.

“I don’t think you could have picked a more appropriate time than Margaret’s funeral for the arrests,” I said when we reached Thom. “My heart was racing so fast. It was finally happening. It was scary, exhilarating. It was, oh—” I couldn't continue.

Thom smiled, looked over at Phil, and extended his hand in a friendly fashion. “Phil, how are you?” he asked.

Phil accepted Thom’s hand with a smile. “Thom, nice to see you again. Good work today.”

I watched Phil as he shook Thom's hand.

Thom glanced at me and said, “Well, we mostly have Kay to thank for that. We couldn’t have done it without her.”

I glanced over at Deirdre and Elizabeth. “With assistance.”

Thom leaned over and asked, “Kay, are you going to introduce me to your friends?”

“Of course.” I looked at Phil, smiled, and held out my hand to him. Phil smiled back and took my hand in his.

We walked with Thom over to where Deirdre and Elizabeth stood watching.

Tuesday, November 15

Phil left for school to scallop braces for the back of his guitar. As I finished dressing, I heard the doorbell ring. When I hurried down the stairs, the phone started ringing as well. Which should I answer first? I picked up the land line phone.

“Hello?”

“Kay, this is Thom. You sound out of breath. Are you all right?”

“I raced down the stairs. Can you hang on a moment? Someone's at the door.”

“Wait! Kay! I need to tell you... Are you still there?”

“Yes?”

“I just heard, Dr. Anders escaped from his holding cell this morning. I'm on my way over. He's on the loose. That could be him at your door!”

I looked toward the door. The bell was still ringing. My pulse quickened as my eyes widened. “What? How could he…” The doorbell stopped ringing. The door handle jiggled. “Thom, I think someone is trying to get into the house!”

“Don't answer the door. I'll be right there.”

“Hurry!”

“A car is on its way over to your house as we speak.”

“Maybe it's the police out there now. I'm going to have a quick look out the window. Thom, I'll be back in a second.”

I went over to a sidelight window by the front door and slid the curtain aside and peered out. Dr. Anders' face was right there, his eyes level with mine, looking right at me. I jerked back, threw the curtain back over the window, and screamed. I grabbed the phone, “Thom, he's here!” The sound of glass breaking startled me. “He's here! Thom…Thom…are you…” Damn, he was no longer on the line. I dropped the receiver on the table, ran over to the fireplace, and grabbed the iron poker. Dr. Anders put his gloved hand through the sidelight, unlocked the front door, and walked in. “Get out of here!” I shouted at the door he had left open, hoping someone passing would hear me, “Help! Help!”

Dr. Anders wore a mirthless smile on his face, walking purposefully toward me as he entered the house. “Why are you so surprised to see me, Kay? Didn't you know I would come back for you?”

“Stay away! I'm warning you. The police are on their way.”

He laughed and produced a syringe from his jacket pocket, the pocket he patted at the cemetery.

“They'll never get here in time.” He stepped forward.

I brandished the poker at Dr. Anders and swung it at him, hitting him in his arm. He screamed out in pain, dropping the syringe. Blood surged up through the fabric of his sleeve. He cupped the wound with his other hand and looked from his arm up at me with soulless, gray eyes. He dropped his right hand and with it grabbed the poker. He wrenched it away from me and tossed it aside. He reached down toward the syringe with his good arm. I ran up and kicked the syringe a good distance away, taking the opportunity of his bending down to give him a shove that sent him face forward to the floor. I grabbed the fireplace poker, ran around him, and took the stairs, two steps at a time. I needed to get to the phone. I could hear him getting up, making shuffling noises. I reached the bedroom and locked myself in.

“Kay, Kay,” I heard him shout. “You know you can’t get away from me. It’s no use.”

I heard his heavy, sluggish footsteps coming up the stairs.

The phone, the phone, quick, I must call Thom, Phil...anyone. I went over to the phone picked it up and heard a dead line. I remembered dropping the receiver when I answered the phone downstairs, and my cell phone was in my purse in the kitchen. There was no way I could make a call now. I leaned against the door, pushing my whole frame into it, hoping it would prevent Dr. Anders from kicking the door in.

I heard sirens, followed by a lot of noise and screaming. I heard what sounded like someone falling down the steps. Then footsteps again, coming up the stairs, getting nearer to the door, toward me. Coming closer and closer.

I screamed, “Get away, get away.”

There was banging on the bedroom door. “Kay, Kay, open up, open up!”

“Get away.” Tears streamed down my face.

“It’s Thom. You’re safe. I'm here.”

I recognized the voice. “Thom,” I screamed as I opened the door and fell sobbing into his arms.

“What did you do to Dr. Anders? He looks like hell.”

I looked past Thom. Dr. Anders was laying at the bottom of the stairs being handcuffed.

I wiped my eyes with my hand. “Taser?”

Thom nodded.

Two police officers dragged Dr. Anders out.

“Make sure this time he doesn't get away,” Thom shouted at them. He turned to me, “Are you all right?” He held me tightly in his arms. I noticed he was breathing heavily. His lower lip trembled. His eyes were dilated and full of concern. The moment reminded me of our college days when I often found myself in his arms. But now we were both married with grown children, although we had remained friends and had worked together on a couple of occasions. I needed to pull away from his embrace, but his arms felt so comforting, so reassuring right now. We stood silent, standing on the landing upstairs. To continue speaking would have brought words neither of us wished to say.

We were still standing there when Elizabeth came into the house. The front door had been left open, and she walked right in. She looked up at us. “Kay, what's going on? I just saw...Why is Dr. Anders...He escaped?”

Thom and I went downstairs. I was still breathing short, heavy breaths, barely able to talk. “Elizabeth...”

Thom asked for Phil's number and went outside to call him on his cell. I told Elizabeth a short version of what happened with Dr. Anders.

“You know what? I'll make you a cup of tea.” Elizabeth went into the kitchen.

Thom came back in the house carrying a thick yellow mailer. He put it on an end table, came over, and sat next to me on the sofa. Relief soon washed over me.

By the time Elizabeth came back into the room, Thom was explaining how Dr. Anders escaped. “...Police Sergeant Wallace was found dead on the floor with a syringe still in his arm. Dr. Anders got his attention somehow and struck Wallace with the syringe when he entered the cell. He escaped out the open door. The police were low on staff, so they didn’t notice his escape right away.”

“And Dr. Anders had his coat with him, with the syringe in it?” I asked.

“Syringes,” Elizabeth corrected me. She handed us each a cup of tea.

“Thank you.” The warm cup felt comforting in my hands.

“Thanks, Elizabeth.” He took the cup from her. “It's a small town. The police didn't follow procedure.” Thom frowned then shook his head. “Anders was a well respected doctor in town running a free clinic. He was never searched. The coat should have been taken and the contents of the pockets emptied. He just wore it into the cell.”

“Kay, are you going to be okay? I'll stay here if you need me,” Elizabeth said.

“Elizabeth, don’t you have a lunch date?” I wanted to ask Thom about what happened yesterday during the interrogations.

“No, actually, I don’t…I…” I opened my eyes wide and gave the ever so slightest nod towards the door. I wanted a few minutes alone with Thom. She smiled. “Yes, yes, I need to go get ready.”

“Go ahead then, Elizabeth.”

“I just called Phil. He should be here soon. I'll stay with Kay until he comes.”

“Are we still getting together at the patisserie at three o'clock?” Elizabeth asked. “Everyone will be there.”

I paused. “Sure. That should be fine. Thanks, Elizabeth, for coming over.”

“Better see about Phil getting this door fixed right away,” Elizabeth said on her way out.

I turned at an angle on the sofa in order to look at Thom better. “I'm so glad this is all over. What did you learn yesterday?”

“Well, for one thing, you won't have to testify against anyone. Al's confession, plus the conversations on the recorder, and the evidence you collected just about covers everything.”

I sighed. “That's a relief.”

“Not only did Al tell all, he had it all written down. The fool thought he was writing a novel but used all the real names. We found Al's novel in a box underneath Walters' manuscript in his study closet. I made a copy for you, for your reading enjoyment, over there in the yellow mailer I brought in.”

“Thanks, Thom.” I had so many questions. Where to start? “What was on the recorder? I never got a chance to listen to it.”

“A lot. A gold mine. Well, besides Walters’ meeting with Dr. Anders where he was drugged and dragged out to the alley, all of the conversations while Sherman was being watched were recorded. Your neighbor, Ted Michaels, had a heated argument with John Stewart while John was watching Walters.”

“It's so hard to believe Ted was involved.” I heard the garage door opening. Phil was home. “Phil was right about him.”